UAE-based systems integrator Seven Seas has agreed to launch a joint venture with South African management consulting company Affirmative Technology Services (ATS). The joint venture will focus on the supply of business management solutions in the UAE and across the GCC. ATS provides international consulting and training on IT governance, service management, business continuity planning and risk mitigation. The joint venture will be established in the UAE and called Business Management Solutions (BMS). Mohamed Dak al Bab, technology and services director at Seven Seas, will head up BMS alongside Peet Smith, formerly risk mitigation director at ATS. “Security management, service management and IT governance has been areas of interest for Seven Seas for many years and our valued customers can now look forward to a strong and locally based office within Seven Seas offering implementation and training services but also enabling proper compliancy and governance across the border,” said Mustansir Hamza, managing director at Seven Seas. Jan van Ommen, executive director at ATS, added: “By establishing a dedicated local team that provides governed business solutions to the UAE, Seven Seas continues to deliver on their promise to create value for the UAE.” Julian Renecke, managing director at ATS, continued: “We at ATS understand that many of our customers have to make tough decisions in allocating limited IT budget to new initiatives and existing projects, often allocation only happens for one of the initiatives and not for the best combination. We understand that challenge and given the fact that the pillars in governed service management are complementary to each other, thus representing even a higher value. Thus we developed a phased implementation approach.” Seven Seas now has more than 300 staff and an international presence spanning the UAE, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Singapore. The company works with a number of major IT vendors including HP, IBM, Microsoft, CA and Symantec. Hamza concluded: “BMS’ goal is to grow into an organisation that can maintain the balance of quantity with quality; that can develop new local skills to produce fresh innovations and that treats its intellectual capital as knowledge for the world. BMS accepts there are standards but do not see them as the only solutions in delivering quality service.”